


Prompt 2: Love

by GemmaRose



Series: 32 Days of Sanji [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Color Blindness, Kissing, M/M, Post-Skypiea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-21 22:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7407619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Relationships are marked with tally marks. A red line for romantic love will turn black when it’s requited, a blue line for platonic love will turn green. The colour fades as the connection weakens, turning white when the relationship it symbolized no longer exists. When someone dies, the tallies connected to them turn to scars.</p><p>Should make life easier, right? Not always.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sanji had always been able to keep a loose track of when and where he got new tally marks, at least up to the point where they started blending together. The four vivid lines laid end to end from his shoulder halfway down to his elbow were all from the same day. One rose-red tally for their lovely navigator, and three deep vivid green for the rest of the crew. Or at least, that’s what he’d thought until Vivi joined the crew and Nami’s newest tally mark went from red to black in minutes. At Luffy’s questioning, she eventually pointed out the four green marks which represented the rest of the crew.

That left Sanji with a conundrum. The red tally was obviously meant for one of his nakama, but who? First off, they were all men. Secondly, none of them had so much as a single red stripe on their skin. Luffy’s arms were a patchwork of blues and greens, and he’d happily showed Sanji where the green stripe around his wrist grew wider when Sanji joined the crew. Usopp had a smattering of green tally marks up his right arm, and a single jet black one under his wrist band. Zoro’s arms were littered with blue and green, though much less thickly than Luffy’s, and Sanji wanted to slam his head against a wall. That would be stupid, though, so instead he lashed out at the shitty swordsman and slammed Zoro’s head into the Merry’s kitchen wall hard enough to leave a dent.

That night, on watch, Sanji exhaled smoke in a slow stream and knocked the back of his head against the mast. If the tally was red, then whoever he liked would have a _blue_ one. That ruled out Usopp, whose marks were all green, and Luffy, who knew exactly which green mark represented Sanji’s friendship. But the only one left was Zoro and Sanji could barely stand the bastard at the best of times. How the hell did that translate into love? Love was what he felt for Nami and Vivi, for the lovely ladies of their ship, and yet... his tallies for them, laid end to end, were the same shade of green. Whatever, he could live without knowing why some of his tallies were the wrong colour.

\---

Wearing long sleeves all the time certainly helped him not think so much about his discoloured tallies, and for a while nothing changed. And then, when Chopper was unwrapping his bandages after they came down from Skypiea, his breath caught in his throat because the red tally had turned _black_. Which meant that someone on the crew had a black tally mark now. He briefly considered Nami, but she still only had the one black line decorating her beautiful tanned skin.

Chopper smeared a paste over his lightning burns, and Sanji rolled his eyes but sat still as it began to dry on his skin. The little reindeer doctor then moved over to his right and began unwinding Zoro’s bandages, revealing a marginally less gruesome sight. Lightning scars trailed over the swordsman’s torso, snaking out across his shoulders and down his arms a bit. They traced over a trio of tally marks, and Sanji almost winced in sympathy at the sight of the thick line of scar tissue. His hand moved to rest over the paired scars on his forearm, but he stopped himself before actually touching the still-damp medical paste.

There were two other tally marks next to the scar, Sanji noted as Chopper moved his hooves out of the way. One a vivid blue, not dissimilar to the colour the Marines wore, and the other- he only barely managed to not audibly gasp. The third mark on Zoro’s bicep, settled neatly where he wore his bandana 90% of the time, was black. That didn’t prove anything, of course, except that the muscle-headed swordsman had more heart than he did brains. Zoro was in love with someone, and it was mutual. That didn’t mean the moss head was in love with _him_.

“Oh, it did turn black!” Chopper grinned up at Zoro, dropping the dirty bandages into the trash can. “I wasn’t sure earlier, since your skin was all irritated from the lightning. Who’s the lucky human?”

Zoro, to Sanji’s eternal frustration, _shrugged_. “Dunno.” he said simply. “Showed up sometime between when we met Nami and beat Arlong.” he tilted his head slightly towards the little doctor, as if he’d forgotten Sanji’s presence entirely. “You sure it’s not a weird green tally?”

Sanji couldn’t help it, he scoffed. Zoro looked up to glare at him, and the animosity was all he needed to get back on familiar ground. “Did nobody ever teach you the rules, marimo?” he jeered as Chopper began daubing some of the weird smelly paste on Zoro’s lightning marks. “Blue tallies turn green, red ones turn black. Even moss like you should be able to remember that much.”

“This was a green tally on Jaya.” Zoro insisted, face twisting into a scowl. “Then the girls got confused and called it red, and it got darker, because they were wrong.”

Sanji felt his shoulders tense. His tally had gone black before they met back up with the girls (and Chopper and Zoro) on Skypiea. That still didn’t prove anything, though.

“It turned black because it was never green, you colourblind idiot.” Chopper scolded, bonking Zoro on the forehead with his paste-covered hoof.

Zoro was colourblind? Sanji blinked, processing that knowledge. Well, it certainly would explain why his fashion sense was so atrocious. “Are you actually colourblind?” Sanji asked as Chopper finished with his bowl of paste and began cleaning up.

“Can’t tell red from green. Never could.” the swordsman shrugged, as if being unable to tell friend from crush was such a trivial thing.

Sanji bit back a curse, and looked at his knees. Zoro was in love with him, and he was in love with Zoro. Well, _shit_.


	2. Chapter 2

Sanji looked up at the sound of the door to the deck opening, then looked quickly back down when he realized it was Zoro. They hadn’t spoken since that day when Chopper took off their bandages, save a brief argument yesterday which lead to a not-so-brief sparring match. Sanji still hoped that the black tally on his arm was for Nami or Robin, but that hope was fading fast. Robin’s arms bore only a painful amount of scars, and Nami had only the one black tally for their lovely Vivi.

If he allowed himself to think about it logically, then Zoro was the only option. Usopp’s black mark had been there as long as he knew the sniper, and Luffy had none because he was Luffy. But Sanji really didn’t want to think about the situation logically, because what he felt for Zoro couldn’t possibly be love. He could barely even stand the man as nakama, let alone as a romantic partner. So the tally had to be wrong, that was the only option, no matter how illogical it was.

“You haven’t worn short sleeves since we left Skypiea.” Zoro said after a minute of heavy, awkward silence.

“Skypiea was an exception.” Sanji said as coldly as he could manage. Really, he almost never wore something which wasn’t a suit, it wasn’t that surprising.

“Show me your arms.” the swordsman said, and Sanji’s shoulders tensed.

“Why should I?”

“I’m asking you nicely, shit cook.” Zoro snapped. Sanji could practically the man’s hand tightening on the hilt of one of his swords. “Just show me your tallies.”

Wow, now that was just _rude_. Sanji set down the knife on the cutting board and turned away from the counter to glare at Zoro. “No.” he snarled, stepping towards Zoro and deliberately letting the heel of his shoe strike the wood floor loudly. “My tallies are my business, not yours. Ask again, and I’ll kick your teeth in.”

“I’d like to see you try.” Zoro scoffed, and Sanji let out a wordless scream. The sole of his shoe rang against familiar steel blades, and just like that they were fighting. Not at full strength, of course, because Merry didn’t need them punching any more holes in her walls, but Sanji was breathing hard when Zoro’s sword sliced through his sleeve and it wasn’t because of any sort of still-healing injuries.

The fabric slid down, and absurdly the thought that flashed through his mind was ‘ _I liked that shirt._ ’. Then two of Zoro’s swords were at his neck, and his back was pressed against the wall. The air between them was heavy, their laboured breaths filling the small space until Zoro stepped back to sheath his swords. Then the swordsman yanked his bandana off, and pushed up his sleeve, and sure enough right there was the small black tally mark which had been dominating Sanji’s thoughts more or less since they landed back on the Blue Sea.

“You knew.” Zoro didn’t say it like a question, but like a fact. Like a fact that he wasn’t happy about. Sanji nodded, and the swordsman’s nearly ever-present glower deepened into a full scowl. “How long?”

“I’ve suspected since, well, Little Garden, more or less.” he admitted as casually as he could manage. Zoro punched the wall next to his head, and Sanji silently thanked his childhood training for letting him not flinch away from the blow.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Zoro demanded, dark eyes burning with rage. Sanji met them and glared right back.

“Because I wasn’t sure.” he spat, lifting a leg and planting his foot solidly on the swordsman’s chest. “Because a red tally is _love_ , and I can barely stand the sight of your stupid face.” he pushed, and Zoro slid backwards.

“Bullshit.” Zoro snarled, punching him in the shin. Sanji couldn’t contain a slight hiss of pain at that, and drew his leg back to stand on again. Zoro surged forward and planted a hand on the wall to either side of him, leaning in so close their chests touched if they inhaled at the same time.

“It’s true.” Sanji snapped, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Zoro’s, pushing the man’s head back just a bit.

Zoro growled something Sanji didn’t catch, and then calloused hands were grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him into a rough kiss. Sanji wasn’t quite sure how his hands moved from fists at his sides up to clutch at Zoro, but they wound up grasping at the back of the swordsman’s shirt and short green hair. He leaned forward more, his teeth knocking against Zoro’s. and suddenly they were no longer kissing and his shoulders were pressed against the wall again.

“Fucking stupid cook.” the swordsman snarled, cheeks dusted with pink.

“You call that a kiss?” Sanji taunted, and the hands on his shoulders moved to grip at his tie, at the back of his neck. He pulled Zoro in as hard as Zoro pulled him, and they met in the middle for another desperate kiss. Sanji’s heart was racing when they parted, his breaths short and fast. Zoro’s pupils were blown far wider than they had been a minute ago, and Sanji pulled him in for a third hungry kiss. This time they managed not to knock their teeth together, but they still had to separate for air after a few seconds,

Kissing Zoro was nothing like the handful of kisses he’d had with girls as a young teen. Those had been quick, chaste things, barely touching each other save maybe held hands. This was so much more intense, not just because he’d pulled Zoro’s body near to flush against his own but also because it was driven by feelings so much stronger than innocent curiosity. “You.” he gasped when they pulled apart to breathe again. “Are an ass.” he leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to the edge of Zoro’s open mouth. “I can’t stand you.” another kiss, this time on Zoro’s opposite cheek. “You’re stupid, and annoying, and-”

Zoro intercepted Sanji’s next punctuational kiss and pressed him back against the galley wall, stealing what little breath had been left in his lungs. “Shut up.” Zoro growled when they pulled apart briefly and Sanji decided not to argue for once, instead pulling Zoro in for a deep, proper kiss. It wasn’t anything like the type of love he’d imagined as a kid, but if this was what loving Zoro was like then, well, he couldn’t say he minded.


End file.
